Theme: Learning to love 63119 to the Nations of St. Louis
Summary: Paul sent Titus to the country of Crete. The way he was to reach the country was through towns (1:5 ) and families (1:8). What would it look like if we focused on showing the love of Jesus to the families on our streets?
Intentional Activities:
1. Go on a walk through your neighborhood. Before leaving, settle on a game you will play. For example, pick a color and predict how many houses you will see that are that color. Or predict which color will be most common on your street, and keep track of how many of each color there are. You could also make a bingo sheet with things like, "red door," "brown dog," "pine tree," etc. Anything that has you paying attention and getting to know the houses on your street. As you walk or when you get home, you can pray together for the families. If any of your neighbors are outside, consider entering the potential discomfort of introducing yourselves and learning about their family. Pray for them together when you get home or that night before bed.
2. This time of year there are fall community events--consider attending one as a family with the goal of meeting at least one other family in your community. Pray before you go that God would help you love families in your community and show you how to do that as conversations develop.
3. Make a "[South Gore] Update" (insert your street name). As you get to know families on your street and have conversations, make an update that you would share as if you were a missionary writing to those supporting you. Invite kids to create the "letter-head" or "design" for a written update. Note conversations and things you learned about people, and ask for prayer. Share it with your house group or another family at church.
Moment-by-Moment Thoughts:
Zack noted in the sermon that the identifying mark of Christians is their love. It is sometimes difficult to figure out how we can show love to one another, but if the goal is for us to show love, then it seems this might impact the way we encourage or correct our kids. As you're watching tv together, for example, if there is a character who is mean, name for them that that person is struggling to show love. You might say, "Wow, Squidward is struggling to show love to Sponge-Bob" or "Swiper is having a hard-time showing love isn't he? I hope he seeks Dora's forgiveness and she forgives him." Naming love and its absence in every day moments will create a mentoring environment in love's direction.
Or, if your kids are arguing amongst each other, encourage them to show love to each other, and give an example of how words in this situation can be loving. This way it's not simply a formula of nice words they are to memorize and use, but a goal in their hearts to be loving toward one another. When we as parents ask forgiveness, we too can say, "We didn't love well when we raised our voice and accused our child of being stupid simply because our child accidentally spilled milk. Love recognizes the difference between a sin and an accident. We are very sorry. Please forgive us. "
